Final Presentation

Hey everybody, it's been a long semester full of meetings, diagrams, and planning.  This isn't a final product but this is what HPU's IT Dept. and I have come up with so far.  Hopefully in the coming months I will be working with them to creating a useful and intuitive tool that everyone can use and enjoy.  I know the video ran a bit long but honestly I felt like it could have been longer :-)

Here's the link to my final presentation video.
Also here's the link to my slides.

Presentation Plan

My presentation for my project is coming up within the next week.  Here are few things I want to talk about:

• Project objectives
• Stakeholders
• Meetings
• Stages of development so far
• Difficulties I faced (communication, scheduling conflicts, etc.)
• The likelihood of this becoming a reality

Thanks for reading my blog and stay tuned for my video presentation!

Here's the editable link to the presentation.

HTML Mockup Client Meeting

I just met with Vlad from HPU's IT Department this morning and he looked over my HTML mockup.  Unfortunately, like most prototypes this was not quite what he had in mind.  Vlad mentioned that the great thing about having it reside inside of Google Apps is that much of the functionality that we want the system to have is already available to us through Google.  Google has a number of ways to share your calendar others and students, academic advisors, and student organizations already possess a Gmail account through the Pipeline.  Having much of the work done for us allows us to concentrate on creating "glue" or a link between HPU's Banner (Class Scheduling System) and Google Apps.  It also frees us up to work on an interface that users will enjoy.  He did however, say that starting with the very basics is the way to go when first trying to create something.

Here's a short recording of our meeting.

Low Fidelity Drawings

I know it took me a while to get these up but I finally have some sketches regarding the look and flow of how the scheduling system.  These images are mostly from the students view because the Student Organization or Academic Advisor would only have a slight modification to how things would look and work.

This first image shows the how things will function together from a high level.  It shows our final goal get information from Registration/Build Class Schedule to @my.hpu.edu.

The next drawing is a basic view of how it could look like.  A student's calendar filled in with both personal events (i.e. work schedule, meetings, lunches, appointments, etc..) and also their respective class schedule for that particular month.

The last drawing shows the relationship between the Class Scheduling system and the proposed Event Publisher to create this Unified Google Calendar View.     :-)

Here's the link to my short explanation.

Use Case Diagram for Stakeholders

Here is my Use Case Diagram.  I originally had three separate diagrams but I consolidating it all into a single diagram.  Please note that this is functionality that I want all three of these stakeholders to have.   Students are the only ones able to add or edit their respective work schedules.  But all three stakeholders have the ability to view/print the student's work and school schedule.

Here's the diagram.

Activity Diagram

Here are the steps provided by Vlad from HPU's IT Department

1. Someone comes up with an idea
2. We have a brief discussion about it
3. Depending on the scope of the idea a small focus group may be created to discuss feasibility
4. Once the Why and the How are defined in a comprehensive fashion the solution is presented to our ITS leadership team (which comprises of IT Managers and above)
5. We have a test environment where proof of concept may be built before #4 to demo
6. Change Management request has been submitted for approval by all IT managers
7. #6 defines the Date and Time to stage the change in production

HPU Pipeline Student Semester Schedule Activity Diagram

Original Activity Diagram

Edit:  I have just finished my meeting with Vlad Abadzhiev from HPU"s IT department.  In order to implement an idea like mine it needs to be proposed to HPU's Banner Committee.  The committee meets every Thursday to talk and vote on potential changes to HPU's Banner.  Vlad said that he would bring up my idea in the next meeting.   It would be great to see this thing really happen.  He also mentioned that it may be a better idea if instead of the scheduling system living inside the HPU Banner that it could become part of Google's Calendar app.

Here is the link to my meeting with Mr. Abadzhiev.  Pardon my nervousness :-)

Planning an Interview with HPU (Draft)

Prior to interview:  Before I meet with HPU's IT Department I think it is important to show that there is a need or desire for an extension of the current system.  I would like to conduct a short email survey of the student body to get a consensus about how people feel about the possibility of implementing this and whether they feel like it would improve the quality of their work/school life.

     Sample questions (Yes/No):

• Are currently working while taking classes at HPU?
• Do you find it difficult to manage your work and school schedules?
• Does the way you manage currently your schedule make it hard to find time to relax, enjoy Hawaii, and participate in student organizations?
• Do you feel the registration/semester schedule tool on HPU's Pipeline is effective when determining your schedule for each semester? 

     After getting a decent sample size of the student body I will then set up a meeting with the IT Department.

Setting:  To be determined

Interview with IT Department:  During the interview with the IT Department I would would ask questions but not assume that they want to work on my project.  They could possibly have a similar idea already in the works and just need some help to make it happen.

     Some questions I would ask after pitching my idea briefly:

• Would it be possible for a student to make alterations or extend parts of HPU's Pipeline?
• How many students do think work full or part time and attend school here?
• Would you be willing to take a look at the survey I conducted? (Hopefully, I have some convincing numbers)
• Could a student organization use this tool to help organize events and activities for its members to better foster participation?
• Do you think adding a scheduling tool to Pipeline's registration section that handles both work and academic schedules would be beneficial to the students, Academic Advisors, and student organizations? (In support of HPU's mission?)
• Do you know what channels I would need to go through in order to make this happen? (i.e. the Registrar)
• Hopefully more questions...

Follow up: Send thank you emails/letters to those who allowed this interview to happen (not just those who were there).  Prepare myself to begin the next stages of the project by using the feedback from the IT Department interview. Schedule another meeting if they are interested.